Yard-long Beans in Thai Cooking

Yard-long beans are not really a yard long, but they can grow to half a metre. They are thinner, denser and less juicy than ordinary green beans, with a nutty, grassy taste, and they stay crunchy whether pounded, stir-fried or simmered.

Pronunciation	tua fak yao
Flavour	Grassy, nutty, mildly sweet; dense and crunchy
Used in	Som tam, pad prik khing, red curry, raw with larb and nam prik
Substitute	Green beans, cooked a little less

How to cook with them

In som tam: cut into 3 cm lengths and bruised in the mortar with the dressing, so they soak up flavour but stay crisp.
In pad prik khing: stir-fried with red curry paste, pork or crispy pork belly, and makrut lime leaf. A dry, intensely flavoured stir-fry where the beans are the star.
In curries: added to red curry and jungle curry for the last few minutes.
Raw: served on the side with larb, nam tok, som tam and nam prik dips, to cool the heat between bites.

Buying and storing

Choose slender, firm, dark green beans that snap when bent. Avoid ones with bulging seeds or soft, wrinkled patches. Wrap them loosely in a paper towel inside a bag and keep them in the fridge for up to five days.

Substitutes

Ordinary green beans or French beans work well. They are juicier and softer, so pound them less in som tam and cook them a little less in stir-fries.

Cook’s tip
For pad prik khing, fry the beans until a few blister and darken in spots before adding the curry paste. It gives them a sweet, slightly smoky edge.

Recipes with Yard-long Beans